Suwon City to Invest 10.5 Billion Won to Eliminate Odors from Sewage Sludge Treatment Facilities

by Lee YeongKyu

Published 22 Jun.2023 08:10(KST)

Suwon City Sewage Sludge Treatment Facility

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province is set to actively proceed with the second phase of the odor improvement project at the 'sewage sludge treatment facility' within the public sewage treatment plant.

On the 22nd, Suwon City announced that it began construction on the second improvement project at the sewage sludge treatment facility within the Suwon Public Sewage Treatment Plant located at 263 Taean-ro, Hwaseong City, on the 5th, investing a total of 10.57 billion KRW.

Suwon City will first introduce an RTO (Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer) facility that completely incinerates odor-causing substances. This equipment will combust non-water-soluble substances that were difficult to treat with existing chemical methods, thereby eliminating odor factors.

Additionally, a water-cooled heat exchanger to reduce the temperature of odor-laden gases for each of the three dryers and an automatically operated chemical scrubbing tower will be newly or additionally installed.

Suwon City explained that based on odor technical diagnosis modeling results, even if the outlet emits 300 times the standard concentration of composite odors after the second improvement project, the odor at the site boundary is expected to be reduced to a level imperceptible to humans.

Established in 2010, the Suwon sewage sludge treatment facility can process 585 tons of sewage sludge per day using a drying fuel conversion method.

However, since 2019, Hwaseong City has strengthened emission standards, and with large apartment complexes built near the site, odor complaints have been continuously occurring.

In response, Suwon City objectively diagnosed the performance of existing facilities through an odor technical diagnosis service in 2021, then proceeded with the improvement project by first having a private investor carry out major repairs and second by introducing new odor reduction facilities.

A Suwon City official stated, "Once construction is completed, we are confident that nearby residents who have expressed discomfort due to odors will be able to live in a pleasant environment," adding, "We will do our best to meet the expectations of the local residents who have patiently awaited the best possible outcome."